U.S., Canada revise guidelines for potato trade

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced modified guidelines to allow for the continued trade should there be future detections of potato cyst nematodes in either the United States or Canada.

The revised guidelines will maintain the safe movement of potatoes between the United States and Canada while continuing to protect our countries against the spread of potato cyst nematodes, said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer in a May 5 statement.

As part of the revised export certification requirements, all fields used to produce seed potatoes for trade between Canada and the United States must be soil sampled using a full field grid pattern. The previous sampling technique, known as the perimeter sampling approach, no longer meets the agreed-upon requirements.

All potato shipments between the two countries must include a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration confirming that the seed potatoes originated from field tests and found free of potato cyst nematodes.

Gerry Ritz, Canada's minister of agriculture and agri-food and minister for the Canadian Wheat Board, said he was pleased that Canada and the United States have reached this agreement to make sure American producers have access to Canadian seed potatoes.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and CFIA revised the guidelines in response to the golden nematode detection in Alberta, Canada in the fall of 2007. If Canada meets all the requirements of the revised guidelines, some Alberta seed potatoes from the 2007 crop could be eligible for export to the United States, the USDA said.

The potato cyst nematodes do not pose a threat to human health. But if left uncontrolled, the nematodes may cause significant damage to potato and tomato crops. The nematodes can adversely impact the economy due to crop losses, pest management expenses and market access interruptions, the USDA said. 

Source: American Shipper